Best time to visit in December

[epceddie]

My wife and I are going to make our first December visit to the World in 2012. We'd like to know the pros and cons of going the first week versus the second week. Right now, we're kind of leaning towards the second week. Any and all help will be appreciated.

[faline]

We just returned from a trip which began on the 9th and ended on the 16th. Crowd levels were pretty low and most (but not all rides) had no lines or short lines (less than 20 minutes). In fact, we rarely used fast pass during this week.

Depending on the timing of Christmas (day of the week on which it falls), the second week could end up being more crowded towards the end of the time as folks begin to come in for the holiday time frame.

Pop Warner and the Magic Kingdom parade filming usually take place during the first week of December. Pop Warner typically impacts the resorts (particularly value and moderate resorts) more than the parks but there is some increase in crowds due to this as well. This could be a consideration depending on where you plan to stay.

The parade filming typically takes place the first weekend in December and can disrupt getting up and down Main Street in the Magic Kingdom though the rest of the park is usually not affected or only minimally so.

[Basket Mommy]

We've been to Disney 3 different times in early December and found the crowds to vary. The closer to Thanksgiving you go, the more crowded it is, in my opinion. If you can find a good time that's a couple of days past Thanksgiving weekend but 3-4 days before Christmas break starts, then I'd say that's a great time. Try to avoid the taping of the Christmas parade at MK if you can. That place is CRAZY when they tape the parade. Made the mistake of doing that once. Never again!

[epceddie]

Thank you for the replies.

[spoiledraf]

We're considering the same time frame and I was actually thinking of trying to catch the parade. Just something we have never done and might like to see. Is there anything positive about the parade?

[brivers222]

I am slow on getting my trip reports up (only 4 of the 11 have been posted so far :( ) but we just got back 12/9-12/19 it was an amazing time. It rained for 24 hours straight at one point but that was from 4pm to 4pm so it didn't upset 2 nights in a row, just one.

Crowds were great and really only started picking up on the 19th as people were arriving for the christmas time.

[Basket Mommy]

We're considering the same time frame and I was actually thinking of trying to catch the parade. Just something we have never done and might like to see. Is there anything positive about the parade?

It's not like it looks on TV. It's a LOT of standing around while they're taping different segments. It doesn't flow like it does on TV. There are many stops, starts and repeats. And Main Street is wall to wall bodies. If you want to go past Main Street you have to duck into the Emporium just to get through the crowds, because the sidewalks are packed.